TallGuyJohninBKK

As for Ladapo, another documented fringe vaccine misinformation peddler: Florida surgeon general altered COVID-19 study findings April 25, 2023 Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo altered important findings in a COVID-19 study with the intent to spread misinformation about vaccine safety. Ladapo personally made changes to a study about COVID-19 vaccines last year that suggested the vaccines had higher health risks for young men than the rest of the medical community established. ... His changes, which were revealed by a public records request by the new outlet, specifically altered the risks of cardiac death to appear more severe than previous versions of the study, Politico reported. https://healthexec.com/topics/clinical/COVID-19/florida-surgeon-general-altered-covid-19-study-findings Report: Florida officials cut key data from vaccine study April 8, 2023 TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — An analysis that was the basis of a highly criticized recommendation from Florida's surgeon general cautioning young men against getting the COVID-19 vaccine omitted information that showed catching the virus could increase the risk of a cardiac-related death much more than getting the mRNA shot, according to drafts of the analysis obtained by the Tampa Bay Times. https://news.yahoo.com/report-florida-officials-cut-key-150016558.html

And then there was more from Trump on harmful COVID misinformation: 23.11.2020 "From March 1 to April 30, 2020, Donald J Trump made 11 tweets about unproven therapies and mentioned these therapies 65 times in White House briefings, especially touting hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. These tweets had an impression reach of 300% above Donald J Trump’s average. ... The same is true for medications on Amazon, with purchases for medicine substitutes, such as hydroxychloroquine, increasing by 200%." https://www.jmir.org/2020/11/e20044/ Journal of Medical Internet Research Hydroxychloroquine: how an unproven drug became Trump’s coronavirus 'miracle cure' 7 Apr 2020 This weekend, Donald Trump used his daily White House coronavirus briefings to again urge Americans to take hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that has not been shown to be safe or effective against Covid-19. “What do you have to lose? Take it,” the president said on Saturday as he boasted that the US had amassed 29m doses of the drug. On Sunday, facing questions from the press about his aggressive promotion of an unproven treatment, he argued against waiting for the completion of clinical trials." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/06/hydroxychloroquine-trump-coronavirus-drug And what was known at the time: July 1, 2020 Update: A summary of the FDA review of safety issues with the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is now available. This includes reports of serious heart rhythm problems and other safety issues, including blood and lymph system disorders, kidney injuries, and liver problems and failure." https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-cautions-against-use-hydroxychloroquine-or-chloroquine-covid-19-outside-hospital-setting-or

Wrong about injecting! In his own words: "And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me." https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/07/13/fact-check-did-trump-tell-people-to-drink-bleach-to-kill-coronavirus/113754708/

There were multiple reasons why normal people came away from Trump's comments that day thinking about bleach... 1. when Trump talks about "disinfectants," the average citizen is probably going to start thinking about bleach, which is the most common consumer disinfectant. and 2. "bleach" was a topic of discussion that day at Trump's briefing just before he veered off into his now infamous "disinfectant" misinformation rant. Specifically: "Trump spoke about the role he thought disinfectants could play in tackling an infection caused by the virus during a now infamous April 23 briefing. But he didn’t say people should drink bleach. His comments came after William Bryan, the undersecretary for science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security, presented a study that found sun exposure and cleaning agents like bleach can kill the virus when it lingers on surfaces. Trump remarked on the effectiveness of those methods and wondered if they could help address infections in the human body." https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/07/13/fact-check-did-trump-tell-people-to-drink-bleach-to-kill-coronavirus/113754708/ Hence "disinfectants" became thought of as "bleach."

Yes, let's talk about public officials spreading harmful COVID misinformation. Some Americans Are Tragically Still Drinking Bleach As A Coronavirus ‘Cure’ Aug 24, 2020 "Despite months of warnings that it’s unsafe, some Americans are still attempting to self-treat for coronavirus by drinking bleach products, prompting Georgia officials to send out a warning that doing so could be fatal. ... Using household disinfectants to treat Covid-19 has become a troubling issue during the coronavirus pandemic, which hasn’t been helped by President Donald Trump suggesting unproven remedies. At an April news conference, Trump wrongly suggested injecting disinfectant as a potential treatment, leading the makers of Lysol to release a statement saying "under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route).” https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/08/24/some-americans-are-tragically-still-drinking-bleach-as-a-coronavirus-cure/

Wanna talk about harmful misinformation.... Nearly 50 people in North Texas drank bleach this month and officials are warning people it won't prevent or cure coronavirus Aug 27, 2020 ... "The Texas Poison Center Network said in a statement that it's seen a 71% uptick in calls involving bleach products, and a 63% uptick in calls involving other household cleaners. Poison control centers, bleach manufacturers, and experts issued warnings earlier this year about the hazards of injecting or ingesting bleach after President Donald Trump speculated at an April press conference about injecting disinfectant to kill the coronavirus. He later said he had been speaking sarcastically." https://www.insider.com/texans-drink-bleach-poison-control-warns-wont-cure-coronavirus-2020-8

Trust the experts, not the internet trolls and anti-vax misinformation peddlers: "COVID-19 vaccination has been shown to reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 disease and may help protect against long COVID for those who get infected. The best protection against COVID-19 and the possibility of serious illness remains staying up to date with vaccinations, including the latest vaccine. Having vaccines approved is not enough — getting vaccinated is necessary for protection. — Carlos del Rio, MD, FIDSA – President, Infectious Diseases Society of America About IDSA The Infectious Diseases Society of America is a community of more than 12,000 physicians, scientists and public health experts who specialize in infectious diseases. https://www.idsociety.org/news--publications-new/articles/2023/idsa-response-to-cdcs-updated-booster-guidance/

Vaccines and other COVID public health measures saved lives... millions... That's the bottom line.

And further on that point regarding harmful misinformation, let's place the blame where the blame is really due: KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor: Media and Misinformation "We find in the latest Vaccine Monitor that belief in pandemic-related misinformation is widespread, with 78% of adults saying they have heard at least one of eight different false statements about COVID-19 and that they believe it to be true or are unsure if it is true or false. ... The share who hold at least four misconceptions is small (between 11-16%) among those who say they trust COVID-19 information from network news, local TV news, CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. This share rises to nearly four in ten among those who trust COVID-19 information from One America News (37%) and Fox News (36%), and to nearly half (46%) among those who trust information from Newsmax. https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/poll-finding/kff-covid-19-vaccine-monitor-media-and-misinformation/

The amount of reckless and harmful COVID and COVID vaccine misinformation and rubbish that has been foisted on the internet over the past four years -- including by some number of posters here -- massively dwarfs the comparively few over-generalizations made by some public officials early on in the pandemic. The WHO was very clear back in 2021 about just what COVID vaccines could accomplish: 14 July 2021 Vaccine protection and infection "Vaccines can stop most people from getting sick with COVID-19, but not everyone. Even after someone takes all of the recommended doses and waits a few weeks for immunity to build up, there is still a chance that they can get infected. Vaccines do not provide full (100%) protection, so ‘breakthrough infections’ – where people get the virus, despite having been fully vaccinated – will occur." https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/vaccine-efficacy-effectiveness-and-protection

Per WHO as of Aug. 2023: Why get vaccinated against COVID-19? The emergency phase of COVID-19 is over, but the virus continues to spread and evolve. COVID-19 remains a threat, especially to older persons and adults with underlying health conditions. Safe and effective vaccines help ensure that COVID-19 does not result in severe disease and death. Vaccination protects against COVID-19 and reduces the likelihood of new variants from emerging." https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/covid-19-vaccines/advice

"In August 2022, the risk of dying from COVID-19 among unvaccinated adults compared with adults who received a primary series was 9 times higher for adults aged 65–79 years and 4 times higher for adults aged ≥80 years. ... Compared with adults who received a primary series in the same age group, the risk of dying from COVID-19 among unvaccinated adults was 3 times higher for adults aged 18–29 years, 5 times higher for adults aged 30–49 years, and 6 times higher for adults aged 50–64 years. ... In August 2022, adults aged ≥50 years with at least 2 booster doses had 3 times lower risk of dying from COVID-19 than adults of the same age with one booster dose (Figure 10). https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/data-review/vaccines.html

Says the poster who has publicly aligned himself here in this thread with a documented conspiracy-pseudoscience COVID misinformation peddling organization.

He was correct in the general sense, in that as has been almost universally acknowledged by numerous experts around the world -- excluding some random anti-vaxers here with no credible sources -- that COVID vaccines helped curb the pandemic and saved many millions of lives and prevented serious illness in many millions more. But he also was/is a politician, who like many politicians, tends to speak in generalities... He overstated the detail. But he certainly had the right concepts! At least, he, unlike his predecessor, wasn't urging people to take all kind of measures against COVID that the medical community has declared useless, harmful, potentially toxic.

Might as well add this additional study to those mentioned above, since they all in different ways verify the vast numbers of lives saved by COVID vaccines -- contrary to the entirely unsourced and unsubstantiated claims above. COVID vaccines saved at least 1 million lives in Europe, experts estimate April 18, 2023 COVID-19 vaccination directly saved at least 1,004,927 lives across Europe from December 2020 to March 2023, according to new research presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) annual meeting this week in Copenhagen, Denmark. The study was based on weekly reported deaths and vaccination doses from 26 countries in Europe collected by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/covid-vaccines-saved-least-1-million-lives-europe-experts-estimate

Thailand police responding to reports of Bangkok mall shooting At least one person has been injured and police are working to secure the scene https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/southeast-asia/thailand-bangkok-mall-shooting-latest-news-b2422976.html

Conflicting reports on whether or not there have been any casualties.... Breaking: Gunfire heard in Siam Paragon mall A shooting incident has been reported at Siam Paragon department store in downtown Bangkok on Tuesday afternoon, with no reports of any casualties. There are no reports of any casualties. BTS Siam station has been closed to the public. According to reports, commandos are being deployed at Siam Paragan. One person is injured after getting shot in the back. Officials said people were being evacuated and security warnings have been issued in the vicinity as the suspect, who is yet to be apprehended, is armed. https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/general/40031578

Hundreds flee from ‘active shooter’ at Siam Paragon Mall in Bangkok BANGKOK – Hundreds of shoppers fled a popular shopping mall in Bangkok on Tuesday after gunshots were heard ringing near high-end retail stores. Videos and photos posted on social media show people rushing to the exits of the Siam Paragon Mall as an “active shooter” was reported to be prowling the mall. Initial reports said the gunshots were heard coming from a toilet on the ground floor. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/hundreds-flee-from-active-shooter-at-siam-paragon-mall-in-bangkok

And then there's this just for the U.S. Two Years of U.S. COVID-19 Vaccines Have Prevented Millions of Hospitalizations and Deaths December 13, 2022 "From December 2020 through November 2022, we estimate that the COVID-19 vaccination program in the U.S. prevented more than 18.5 million additional hospitalizations and 3.2 million additional deaths. Without vaccination, there would have been nearly 120 million more COVID-19 infections. The vaccination program also saved the U.S. $1.15 trillion (Credible Interval: $1.10 trillion–$1.19 trillion) (data not shown) in medical costs that would otherwise have been incurred." https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/two-years-covid-vaccines-prevented-millions-deaths-hospitalizations

An estimated 20 million lives saved from COVID deaths in the first year of vaccinations through 2021 is a pretty good promise made and kept. COVID vaccines saved 20 million lives in first year, study says Health Jun 24, 2022 11:14 AM EDT "Nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year, but even more deaths could have been prevented if international targets for the shots had been reached, researchers reported Thursday." https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/covid-vaccines-saved-20-million-lives-in-first-year-study-says

Yes, that they moved quickly with the benefit of major government funding to respond to the worst public health crises in decades, and by doing so, saved tens of millions of lives. "The COVID-19 vaccine was safely developed The COVID-19 vaccine began rolling out less than a year into the pandemic. Vaccine development typically takes much longer, so it’s easy to wonder how we got this vaccine so soon. But the COVID-19 vaccine is held to the same safety standards as any other vaccine. Rigorous clinical trials have proven that they’re safe and effective." https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health-wellness/coronavirus-information/vaccine-learn/safe-and-effective

Promoting myths again? MYTH: Researchers rushed the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, so its effectiveness and safety cannot be trusted. "There are many reasons why the COVID-19 vaccines could be developed so quickly. Here are just a few: The COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna were created with a method that has been in development for years, so the companies could start the vaccine development process early in the pandemic. ... The vaccine developers didn’t skip any testing steps, but conducted some of the steps on an overlapping schedule to gather data faster." https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccines-myth-versus-fact

Not surprised you belong, considering your posting history: America’s Frontline Doctors CONSPIRACY-PSEUDOSCIENCE Overall, we rate America’s Frontline Doctors a quackery-level pseudoscience website based on promoting false or misleading information regarding Coronavirus that does not align with the scientific consensus. We also rate them Low for factual reporting due to a lack of transparency and using known pseudoscience sources to draw their conclusions. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/americas-frontline-doctors/ The reference website here is one of those that the forum moderation team uses to help evaluation the credibility (or lack thereof) of sources posted in the forum.

The original vaccines had a documented and tested rate of about 90% in preventing infections from the original strain of COVID. That rate was well-documented and well-publicized at the time. November 09, 2020 from Pfizer: "Vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants without evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first interim efficacy analysis" https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-vaccine-candidate-against And then further in April 2021 early in the vaccine's public rollout: "Analysis of 927 confirmed symptomatic cases of COVID-19 demonstrates BNT162b2 is highly effective with 91.3% vaccine efficacy observed against COVID-19, measured seven days through up to six months after the second dose" https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-confirm-high-efficacy-and-no-serious

1. especially for people who are at high health risk such as older folks and those with various pre-existing health conditions, getting the current bivalent vaccine (as opposed to the newer 3rd gen vax not yet available in Thailand) is better than not getting any updated vax at all... once your last prior one was 6 months or more prior. 2. Contrary to your claim, I've never denied vaccines, or any medication for that matter, can have side effects, generally in rare cases. In the case of COVID vaccines, the most common ones are mild and passing. In the case of more serious side effects, the WHO, CDC and other health agencies have called them very rare.